Sri Lanka admits facing defeat in Geneva

Sri Lanka today admitted that it is facing defeat in Geneva when a vote on a resolution on Sri Lanka is taken tomorrow (Thursday).

Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said that the Core Group has managed to secure 30 co-sponsors for the resolution with voting rights from the 47-member UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America have signed the draft resolution so far.

The signatories includes a number of countries that do not have voting rights.

However, he said that Sri Lanka, in principal, will oppose the resolution.

The Minister said that Sri Lanka, in particular, opposes Operative Paragraph 8 of the resolution.

Sabry said that Sri Lanka appealed to the Core Group to give the country time and space to address the issues.

However, he said the Core Group has refused to agree and he feels this is mainly because of pressure from the diaspora. (Colombo Gazette)